Trusting God When Life Hurts, Act VI: Looking at Christ

“We are all under the Mercy, and Christ knows the precise weight and proportion of our sufferings—he bore them. He carried our sorrows. He suffered, not that we might not suffer, but that our sufferings might be like his,” wrote the 19th-century Scottish author George MacDonald.

I came across this quote in an article on loss by the late missionary and author Elisabeth Elliot. If anyone had reason to doubt God when life hurt, it was Elisabeth, whose 29-year-old husband Jim Eliot was murdered along with four other missionaries by the Huaorani people of Ecuador. Instead of turning her back on God, Elizabeth – with her 10-month-old daughter – famously chose to live among her husband’s killers and show them God’s love, a story told in the movieThe End of the Spear.

In Jim Eliot’s life, I find the life of Christ – the one who came to teach and heal and serve and who was killed by those he came to save. And in Elizabeth’s story I find the story of God – who forgives and shows mercy.

To read the rest of this article, the sixth in Faith Notes 2015 Summer Blog Tour, please click here to visit fellow Redbud Jamie Rohrbaugh’s blog, “From His Presence.” And subscribe to receive the remainder of this series, with three upcoming guest posts by fellow writers who’ve experienced their own difficulties trusting God followed by my conclusion at the end of August. Thanks for joining the journey!